Spontaneous bliss of uninterrupted self-knowledge

Any kind of meditation followed by a spiritual aspirant has only one aim, namely, to speed up the fruition of his longing to be united with the Infinite. When this union is effected, the sadhak, aspirant, becomes a siddha, one who has attained the goal. This state of divine union is described by Jesus Christ: “I and my Father are One.” Many have written about this highest state of consciousness, but it remains essentially indescribable. Though it can never be explained, it can be experienced. This is nirvikalpa samadhi.

When the mind merges totally in the Truth, it experiences the nirvikalpa state of spontaneous bliss of uninterrupted Self-knowledge. The aspirant loses his limited individuality to discover that he is with God, who is omnipresent. By the grace of a perfect master, the nirvikalpa state becomes the culmination of earlier forms of personal and impersonal meditation and not their product.

The entire process of attaining the nirvikalpa state consists in gradually curtailing and transcending the working of the individual mind. The mind has to be completely merged and dissolved in the Infinite to experience nirvikalpa samadhi. Form is solidified energy; energy is an expression of mind; mind is the covered mirror of eternity; Truth that has thrown off the mask of mind.

To discard the limiting mind is not easy. The mind has to be overcome by the mind itself. One master told his disciple that in order to attain the highest state he has to be thrown – bound hand and foot to a plank – into a river, where he must keep his garments dry. The disciple could not understand the meaning of this injunction. He wandered until he encountered another master and asked him the meaning of the injunction. This master explained that in order to attain God he had to long intensely for union with Him as if he could not live another moment without it – and yet to have inexhaustible patience that could wait for billions of years. It is only when there is a balance between infinite longing and infinite patience that the aspirant can ever hope to pierce through the veil of the limited mind.

To dwell in nirvikalpa samadhi is to dwell in Truth-consciousness. This God-state cannot be grasped by one whose mind is still working. It is beyond the mind, for it dawns when the limited mind disappears in final union with the Infinite. The soul then knows itself through ‘self’ and not through the mind. The soul in nirvikalpa samadhi does not need artificial inducing of God-consciousness through repeated suggestions. It just knows itself to be God through effortless intuition.

One who experiences nirvikalpa samadhi is established in the knowledge of the soul. This Self-knowledge does not come and go; it is permanent. In the state of ignorance, the individual soul looks upon itself as a man or woman, as the agent of limited actions and the receiver of joys and pains. In the state of Self-knowledge, it knows itself as the soul, which is not in any way limited by these things and is untouched by them. Once it knows its own true nature, it has this knowledge forever and never again becomes involved in ignorance. This state of God-consciousness is infinite and is characterised by unlimited understanding, purity, love and happiness. To be in nirvikalpa samadhi is the endlessness of life in eternity.

Reimagining wealth beyond money

Normally, in our day-to-day-life, we are preoccupied with or remain overly obsessed with wealth. There is nothing wrong or unethical about accumulation of wealth, if it is created lawfully and with noble  intentions. But the entire yearning and craze for accumulation of wealth will have a sobering effect, if we expand the concept of wealth beyond money and material possessions.

We usually see wealth from the prism of ‘price’. The more the possessions and belongings are pricey or costly, more is the formation of wealth. However, if wealth is seen from the prism of ‘value’, our entire idea about wealth may get a new meaning and perspective. Many new categories of wealth then get their due pride of place. We need to explore these largely unrecognised, unsung and undervalued categories of wealth which should be cherished as precious possessions.

The first is good health. Health gained is wealth earned. The growing medical cost and health concerns not only rob us of our money, but happiness also. It is a major impediment in the path of progress and prosperity not only for us, but for our nation too.

The second aspect of wealth is relationships. Wealth loses its shine if kinship is diminished. Family and close friends, through love, affection and care, make our life wholesome. Even if all wealth is gone, the treasure of relationship and kinship will still exist as support.

The third aspect of wealth is wisdom. Wisdom comes with experience and learning. But more often than not, we fail to use this wealth. What else would otherwise explain the loss of wealth by people, even the educated, due to trusting dubious financial instruments and falling prey to fraudsters? Yet, we have seen in the epic Mahabharata, wisdom in full play when the Pandavas choose Krishna and not his big army when faced with a choice.

Reputation, that is, goodwill, is the fourth facet of wealth. Rama said, “Pran jaye par vachan na jaye.” Goodwill is an asset and is recognised as such in corporate balance sheets. For an individual, corporation, or nation too, it is hard to raise resources or invite investment with a tainted scorecard, image, credibility or brand.

The fifth feature of wealth is contentment. Contentment engenders satisfaction and blissfulness. In contrast, greed is a vice, and with its enmity with need, acts as impediment to contentment. Sixth, blessings create another reservoir of wealth. Blessings of parents, elders, teachers, gurus and also of those who are poor and disadvantaged are valuable. These gifts emanate from our acts of goodness, humility, selfless service, gratitude and prayers. With such noble and righteous acts, we also become beneficiaries of grace, manifested and showered in our life in various ways, particularly in challenging times.

The seventh aspect is the wealth of natural resources. Human life is part of divine life force and has ‘blood ties’ with Nature. Air, water, forest, mountains, wildlife, all make our life sustainable and rich. In fact, our richness, in monetary terms, will fade into oblivion if we lose this bio-diversity and natural wealth.

Albert Einstein once said “Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts.” We just need to be mindful and look at wealth from a different prism.